Mississippi State threw the first punch, second punch and third punch last April in the Final Four and the result was unforgettable. Even though Muffet McGraw’s team has lost seven in a row to UConn after winning seven of eight, Notre Dame isn’t scared of UConn either. The result is the best rivalry in the game.

The day preceding the NCAA women’s tournament national semifinals is an unpredictable mishmash of questions and answers. The day starts with a breakfast with ESPN experts such as Kara Lawson and Rebecca Lobo and unfurls through the afternoon with the four teams. When this day was over, after thousands of words had been spoken, many of them about UConn, my takeaway is that fear plays an unhealthy role in the UConn narrative.

There certainly is the fear by the drive-by bashers too lazy or too cowardly to watch games and understand the fuller picture of the women’s game before their annual dismissive missives.

“That would be like me weighing in on and doing a 30-minute piece on ESPN on curling,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I don’t know (poop) about curling. I know it looks cool on TV. I don’t know nothing about it. So the same people could have won curling for the last 50 years and I have no idea.

“There’s people that have never seen a women’s game, have never talked to a women’s basketball player or women’s basketball coach, and they have an opinion at this time of the year and their opinion usually involves Connecticut. So how are we bad for the game when we made you pay attention even that much? And you never used to pay attention. The fact that you’re giving it negative attention, well, you took time out of your really busy day because no one else will talk to you to comment on our game. It makes me kind of say, ‘Yeah, you’re as stupid as I thought you were.’”

Phew. Auriemma has been so restrained in the past month I was beginning to worry about him.

Narratives, some mythical, some myths, have grown around the UConn women. That is the price of a record 11 national championships and 11 consecutive Final Fours. That is the price of a 111-game winning streak, a stunning loss to Mississippi State and this 36-0 season. The price is the veneer of invincibility. Certainly talent and teamwork have led the Huskies to the precipice of a 12th national title. Yet if every team set their approach to playing UConn based on how unbeatable the Huskies are, UConn may as well be playing for its 24th title.

Obviously, Morgan William’s shot has become the centerpiece for everything about beating UConn, but Lawson and Lobo had similar responses on what struck them most about that Final Four game in Texas last spring.

“The thing that stuck with me is how much confidence Mississippi State had, how physical they were, how from the beginning they just punched UConn in the mouth,” Lawson said. “UConn staggered for almost whole the first half. They didn’t know what hit them. It’s rare to see that from a UConn team.”

Lobo stuck with the pugilist theme.

“It was the first time we saw a team come out and tag UConn repeatedly without an immediate response,” she said. “I remembered waiting, of course, they’re going to respond from that first punch, second punch. That’s what UConn does. I was so impressed by Mississippi State’s physical toughness and mental toughness. They weren’t backing down. The inevitable comeback came from UConn, but it was much later than we thought.”

Which brings us to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish can score enough points to beat UConn. The pressing question is can they play enough defense to stop UConn at all. The last four losses to UConn been by 10, 10, 11 and nine points. Lobo calls Gabby Williams the most exciting player in college, capable of the most “wow moments.” Lawson points to Williams’ versatility and because of that UConn is rarely caught in a bad spot defensively. Because of their transition game, Lawson says the Huskies have the “most devastating offense in the game.”

The Vegas line has made UConn a 9.5-point favorite.

“It’s pretty clear to me UConn is the best team in the country,” Lawson said. “Of course, I sat here last year and said that.

“Nothing about UConn scares Notre Dame. Respect UConn. Understand the skills of the players and respect the system. But not scared. They see them as equals. They’re one of the very few programs around the country that don’t talk about, ‘We got to do this, maybe if we do this, we can be within 10.’ With Notre Dame, it’s we’re playing to win this game.”

The Irish, 3-3 against UConn in the Final Four, made the Final Four in 2001 and didn’t make it again for a decade. They have been in the Final Four six times since 2011.

“I don’t think they are in the least bit intimidated,” Lobo said. “I think part of that is Muffet isn’t intimidated. She has beaten UConn. She knows what it takes. I don’t know if it’s the players she recruits or once they get there she helps form them. At least in recent history, there has been a real toughness about them that other teams don’t’ have.

“You saw it in that Villanova game, Kathryn Westbeld with her Lazarus after halftime (with an ankle injury) really helped them win that game. I love watching (Marina) Maybry. She has a little nasty to her. You need that to beat UConn.”

Skylar Diggins had lots to do with this. So did Kayla McBride and Natalie Achonwa. The combination of talent, confidence and strength put Notre Dame on an elite path, a fearless path.

“That crew changed Notre Dame’s recruiting,” Lawson said. “They had good teams in the early 2000s, but they weren’t getting to Final Fours. Now they make them all the time. Look at the players they get now. I think it was Diggins. The fact they got her, the swag she played with, the confidence. That has filtered through the rest of the program.”

“(Auriemma) mentions that, how things changed when Skylar got there,” Lobo said. “She always had a moxie to her, a swagger to her game. I don’t know if she passed it on to players who have continued to pass it down, or if she made the team a certain way that coach McGraw could pass down.”